Kylemore Abbey scouted for Bollywood blockbuster

Bollywood’s having an Ireland craze: top Bollywood film producers visited Kylemore Abbey and several other locations in the West of Ireland this week, evaluating them as settings for Indian superstar Salman Khan’s next film, the Irish Times reported.

The scouting came a week after ‘Ek Tha Tiger,’ the Bollywood film starring Khan and shot in part at Trinity College, Dublin, premiered in India.

The filmmakers were guided by Fáilte Ireland and the Galway Film Centre in their scouting of National University of Ireland, Galway, and Galway’s ‘Latin quarter.’

Other locations considered for the next film, ‘Dabangg 2,’ included Ballynahich Castle, Clifden, and several parts of Connemara, according to the Irish Times. Khan will reprise the role of Chulbul “Robin Hood” Pandey in the film.

The locations would form the backdrop for an extended song and dance number of “love, celebration and togetherness,” the Irish Times reported.

Both Ballynahich Castle and Kylemore Abbey have historic connections to India; two Indian princesses attended school at Kylemore Abbey in the 1920’s, and the uncle of one of the girls, Prince Ranjitsinhji, purchased Ballynahich Castle in 1926, according to the Irish Times.

Watch ‘Banjaara,’ a song from ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ filmed in part at Trinity College, Dublin: